Account executive

We just wrapped up one of our account executive training workshops -- we call it the Advanced Account Executive Bootcamp. A great group of dedicated account executives who all want to lead their team to even greater success. Whether I'm doing the advanced training or the Bootcamp for more entry level AEs -- we spend quite a bit of time talking about being a strategic thinker. Why? Because that seems to be agency owners #1 complaint about their account executive team -- great at following directions and taking orders but not so great at leading the client and growing that business. Are your AEs asking the right questions? I'm guessing not. Luckily for you and your agency, account executive training can fix that. I think there's a simple reason why your account executives are not performing as well as you'd like. They don't ask enough or the right questions. When a client calls and tells an AE they need to open a new project, the AE automatically goes into order taker mode. If they ask any questions at all, they're tactical questions about the deliverables the client is asking for. Most AEs have not been trained on how to step back and ask the why questions. They aren't comfortable suggesting that what the client is asking for might not be the right call. And they rarely know how to take that tactical request all the way back to the client's goals and objectives. Truth be told, depending on the sophistication of the client -- they might not know the answers if your AE did push back. But that's where the opportunities are buried. The sophisticated client will elevate your AE's status from vendor to thinking partner [...]

If you're wondering what an effective advertising agency account executive does all day in a successful agency management system -- you've come to the right place. At AMI, we've trained hundreds of account execs, helping them understand their role with their clients and within the agency. To be able to perform the myriad of account executive tasks, a person must have proven or quickly demonstrable analytical, organizing, leadership, interpersonal, and oral and written communications skills, plus a solid understanding of marketing and advertising. Oh yeah...and your account executives need to understand how businesses work and make money. This is certainly no job for the average beginner, or for some lightweight, glib glad-hander who thinks that he or she can con his/her way through your world on a smile, a shoeshine, a few buzzwords, and a dazzling first impression. A good account executive is hard to find but a huge benefit to your clients and your agency. Here's a quick overview of what I think an Account Executive should do all day in an agency management system: Big picture for their clients Understand their clients' business goals and help them get there Prepare an annual marketing plan for each client, and individual campaign plans as needed throughout the year (with SMART goals) Manage and strengthen (not merely maintain) client relationships Propose, sell to the client, and oversee market, media, and other research studies as required Continuously offer unsolicited ideas to increase the effectiveness of the client’s company and marketing activities Big picture for the agency Understand how the agency makes money and contribute to the agency's profitability through good management Be an advocate for the agency whenever they're out in public Identify and cultivate for new business [...]

If you were being truthful about account executive training in your agency -- you just said, baptism by fire. We hired them and on their first day...took them to a client meeting and it was off to the races. The good ones thrive and survive and the ones who can't cut it, fade away. But we're lousy at training new people. That's an ugly truth about our business. And it's not done out of disregard or cruelty. It's just the reality for small and medium sized advertising (marketing, PR, digital, interactive) agencies. There's no training program in place and we're hiring them because we need their boots on the ground. Now. In our two-day Account Executive Training Bootcamps (check our AE Bootcamp schedule here) we ask the participants to create a list of the top things a client expects of them and the top things the agency owner expects of them. Guess what -- they get it wrong. No big surprise considering we throw them into client work and usually, if they're new to the business, they begin managing project details, taking orders and creating a good relationship with the client. So they think that's at the core of their job responsibilities. Those things are certainly part of the job -- but would they be on your list of the top five things you want from your account executive? I get that you don't have a developed in-house training program and can't take the time to create one, let alone implement it. But, if you're not going to do that -- at the very least, take some of these steps. Send your new/young AE to account executive training: Whether it's our AE Bootcamp (we've been conducting this course for [...]